76 Books Like Whiskey Chaser

I am an avid romance reader. I love all different tropes and I constantly have a book in my hand. Reckless Miles is my favorite of all the books I’ve read and out of all the characters, Cooper Miles is my favorite character. The entire Miles series, about a family vineyard, is worth checking out because not only are they fantastic stories that will leave your sides hurting from laughter, and swooning from the happily ever after, but there is also a mystery woven in. 

Cooper Miles is unique. He’s very comfortable in his skin. Whatever he thinks comes straight out of his mouth and it is drop-dead hilarious. He takes life as it comes and doesn’t stress, something I wish I could learn to do. When he latches onto someone, he loves them deeply, whether it’s a family member, best friend, or a girl who is dropped into his… show more.

This is a story about the Westbrook family. The family is wealthy, they love each other, but they have horrible communication skills. Each one has a secret or a lie or something that doesn’t need to be shared with the family, all with the thought of protecting them. Unfortunately, the secrets could have devastating consequences. Halton Westbrook has a problem with people. They scare him to death. The lie he has carried since childhood has taken the only person he feels comfortable with away from him, until now. Though Avery Maxwell’s books sometimes cover dark subjects, she mixes in just the right amount of humor and romance to keep you turning the pages when you should be sleeping. I loved this story because I identified so much with the anxiety that Halton experienced. I found myself crying for him and his debilitating fear. It was so raw and so spot… show more.

This was one of the first romance books I read, and it has stuck with me. Luke is a grouchy military guy that is tired of his family’s meddling or anyone else’s for that matter. His bristly personality keeps most at bay but when Harper stumbles into his life he realizes he’s going to have a hard time keeping her out of his life. She’s not deterred by his grumpiness and Luke’s true protective personality starts to emerge. Not to give anything away, but the romance of these two was what was memorable about this book. 

For me, a strong character that tugs at my emotions will keep me reading every time. Brittney Sahin is a master of character development and one of my favorite books of all time is The Real Deal. Sebastian is a bad guy…or is he. There are so many layers to this huge character that I was torn about falling in love with him. He was a bad guy, but he had a good reason and though he tried to steer Holly away from his life, she saw through his rough exterior.

The characters and stories in this book carved out a permanent place in my inner life. It took me a long time to read the book because I wanted to savor each sentence. I have rarely found a book that combined such an emotional impact, compulsive readability, and such striking, polished sentences.

Every story has the raw, ringing truth of felt experience, and this experience worked its way into my consciousness like a dream or memory. There is a universal quality of aloneness and separateness among all of Pancake’s characters. The Appalachian settings in this book are as symbolic, arresting, and affecting as the characters. Character and setting are inseparable, both bearing an emotional weight and haunting quality that is rarely found in even the best literature. There is no other book like this. 

Naylor won the coveted Newbery Award for Shiloh, for good reason. The story is heartwarming, beautifully written, and timeless. When 11-year-old Marty finds a young, starving beagle near his home in the West Virginia mountains, he is faced with a moral dilemma: keep a dog who is not his or return the dog to an abusive home. One of the many reasons I love this book is Naylor does an excellent job of creating characters that are multidimensional and so very relatable. Even the “bad guy!” This is the first in a series of three books about Marty and Shiloh. Give this book to your tenderhearted, reluctant reader.

Sarah by Laura Albert aka JT LeRoy captivated my attention right from the start. The story crackles with originality even years after its release. The writing is so vivid that it engulfs the reader in the story. The characters are three dimensional, and the tale being told in the first person and present tense makes you empathize more with the main character. Having gone through a difficult upbringing, the story of Cherry Vanilla and their quest to find love and acceptance spoke to me. This is a title I would highly recommend, not only for the merit of the writing but also because its message continues to resonate to this day. Also check out the audiobook of Sarah, read splendidly by Winsome Brown.

I would read anything written by the talented Cynthia Rylant. Her books for young people introduce moving stories and unforgettable characters.
Missing May is one of those stories featuring young Summer who loses her mom and then is passed around to different aunts and uncles who don’t want to care for her. Finally, elderly Aunt May and Uncle Ob meet her and take her to live with them in West Virginia.

I especially love Rylant’s portrayal of the humble life of May, Ob, and Summer in a rusty old trailer that feels like a palace because it’s so full of love and tenderness. When May dies, Summer’s pain is compounded—and then we meet quirky Cletus who helps Summer and Ob seek relief from their grief.

The basis for the movie October Sky, this isn’t an account of the space program so much as it is a study of the types of people drawn to it, in particular a young man in 1950s West Virginia striving for something more than a life in the coal mines. The culture shock of Sputnik sets him and his friends off into increasingly dangerous—and often hilarious—experiments in amateur rocketry.

Set against an awkward adolescence in a small coal town, it’s a vivid illustration of the obstacles that must be overcome to break free of the cycles life can impose. The screen adaptation takes some liberties, most notably with Hickam’s father. The book portrays him as being cautiously supportive, if understandably skeptical, of his teenage son’s unlikely obsession.

Jaimy Gordon has written a beautiful, unforgettable novel that takes place at a run-down racecourse in West Virginia, where a has-been trainer forms a get-rich-quick plan with used-up racehorses. The story of Lord of Misrule, the legendary stakes winner, brings us into the heart of it, where everybody’s searching for something, everything has a price and what’s truly valuable is right in front of your nose.